| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Israel, return to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled in your sin. | 1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sin has been your downfall! |
| 2Take words of repentance with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him: "Forgive all our sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips. | 2Return to the LORD and repent! Say to him: "Completely forgive our iniquity; accept our penitential prayer, that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. |
| 3Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, 'Our gods!' to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in You." | 3Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never again say, 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made. For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!" |
| 4I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him. | 4"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger will turn away from them. |
| 5I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon. | 5I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily, he will send down his roots like a cedar of Lebanon. |
| 6His new branches will spread, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon. | 6His young shoots will grow; his splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. |
| 7The people will return and live beneath his shade. They will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon. | 7People will reside again in his shade; they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. They will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon. |
| 8Ephraim, why should I have anything more to do with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing pine tree; your fruit comes from Me. | 8O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do with idols anymore! I will answer him and care for him. I am like a luxuriant cypress tree; your fruitfulness comes from me! |
| 9Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. | 9Who is wise? Let him discern these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the LORD are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble. |
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